birchesgreen
Established Member
Maybe Putin will reform Warsaw Pact. Belarus and Transnistria will be valuable members.
I think that Poland would be the first to object to Warsaw being used in the title of any NEW Russian organisation...Maybe Putin will reform Warsaw Pact. Belarus and Transnistria will be valuable members.
The Russian attitude towards Ukraine has always been that they're Russian-enough to act as a buffer for attacks on 'real' Russia. The very name 'Ukraine' is originates from 'The Borderlands'.Given Putin has made it clear that any attack on what he sees as ‘Russia’ will result in a nuclear response, what should the West’s approach be in supporting / dissuading Ukraine from this course of action?
I suspect he knows he hasn't got the military capability to threaten the two countries yet, what with many of his troops busy demolishing Ukraine still.
Once he's finished messing about in Ukraine, I suspect we will start to see an increased military presence on Finland's border and over in Kaliningrad.
It's a big stray from the usual Russian mock-anger and outright lies. All is not well in the Putin household.
Perhaps Put's is considering joining NATO himself !!I was quite taken aback actually, as you say it’s not his usual style at all. Perhaps he realises that he’s already bitten off more than he can chew, and is now very keen to avoid any kind of escalation?
Well the Soviet Union did suggest it join NATO in the early 50s...Perhaps Put's is considering joining NATO himself !!
Putin has made an announcement regarding Finland and Sweden applying for NATO membership. He actually appears to be taking it rather well, all very measured and dare I say it, sensible!
Looks to be going that way.Perhaps he's optimistic Turkey might scupper the whole thing.
Well the Soviet Union did suggest it join NATO in the early 50s...
Looks to be going that way.
The Turkish president is adamant that he'll veto the decision.
One thing that I‘ve been wondering is the end-game scenario whereby Russia manages to seize Donetsk and Luhansk for sufficiently long enough that Putin is able to declare them a part of Russia (presumably backed up with some sort of referendum result, real or pretend), but not militarily strong enough to defend them from Ukraine re-invading and seizing them back.
Given Putin has made it clear that any attack on what he sees as ‘Russia’ will result in a nuclear response, what should the West’s approach be in supporting / dissuading Ukraine from this course of action? Morally they have a legitimate claim to regaining these territories, but is it sensible from an overall strategic point of view?
Erdogan almost certainly sees this as an opportunity to gain leverage in other areas; I don’t think he will actually veto it.
This is one of the stranger things at the moment. Incorporating the LPR and DPR into Russia would be a no brainer right now, but they seem desperate to avoid doing just that. I just cannot work out what the Russian goal is here, they keep reducing their territorial aims every couple of weeks, and the latest numbers seem to paint a terrible picture for Russia. Could it be that they know that defending the LPR and DPR is a lost cause, and so they don't want to admit that they've lost Russian territory?
That's even assuming that there's much of the DPR army left, given that they've been taking huge losses.
He'll want his F-35 order back and possibly get an embargo lifted.
Again, IIRC (which I may not!) he also spoke about EU membership.
Spoken or not, Russia becoming a future member state of the EU was a possibility back in the early 2000s when the Euro was introduced as a physical currency.
I have, from that year, a Portuguese book about the Euro that mentions just that!
The other thing to consider is Putin’s ideological evolution. He was never a good guy, but the degradation of his politics into an ever more insularly aggressive and pathetic man has been quite the watch.Thanks, at least I wasn’t imagining it!
Integrating Russia into the EU would have been challenging to say the least and I honestly don’t know how it would have played out. On the one hand it may have prevented some of their more extreme behaviour (such as invading their neighbours!), but at the same time how would the EU have dealt with such a corrupt and undemocratic regime? I know there are EU member states who aren’t exactly perfect in this regard, but Russia is on a whole different level. I’m struggling to see how they’d have been anything other than disruptive and a general nuisance to be honest, as fascinating as it would have been.
Putin himself was a KGB agent in East Germany in the 1980s.Didn't Putin's dad work for Stalin? I seem to remember reading somewhere thar Putun was involved with the KGB as well
And, apparently in contradiction of his 'hard man' image, he was actually a mildly-competent desk jockey, rather than a James Bond-esque field agent.Putin himself was a KGB agent in East Germany in the 1980s.
The reports I have read in the German media state that he was based in Dresden and was (one of) the link men between the East German Stasi and the KGB. He speaks good German.And, apparently in contradiction of his 'hard man' image, he was actually a mildly-competent desk jockey, rather than a James Bond-esque field agent.
I suspect the vast majority of the population of all former Warsaw pact countries plus most ex Soviet states other than Russia would strongly disagree with that statement.Then of course he lost his job as the Wall came down which shows that the collapse of the USSR was the biggest disaster of modern times...
I rather think that @coppercapped was suggesting that was Putin's view of events, rather than his own.I suspect the vast majority of the population of all former Warsaw pact countries plus most ex Soviet states other than Russia would strongly disagree with that statement.
The other thing to consider is Putin’s ideological evolution. He was never a good guy, but the degradation of his politics into an ever more insularly aggressive and pathetic man has been quite the watch.
Go back to 2001 and Putin was at Ground Zero in New York as a welcome guest to pay his respects to the victims of Islamic terrorism. He was also sincere about it. It’s like looking at an alternate universe now.
They're both really good points, and this is why, whilst far from being a Putin apologist or sympathiser, I do question if there was more we could have done to prevent Russia going full "rogue state". I'm not saying it would have been easy by any means, but did the West really try with Putin? I honestly don't know. That said, if the same underlying ideological beliefs were always simmering under the surface, perhaps a situation like the current one was inevitable; again it's difficult say.
On re-reading I agree.I rather think that @coppercapped was suggesting that was Putin's view of events, rather than his own.
The annexation of Crimea and/or their behaviour in Syria should have ended their right to host that tournament. One of the few things I agreed with Nick Clegg on was his calls to boycott the World cup if it remained in Russia.Well....FIFA did give him the World Cup....
And they also gave it to Qatar. Another rogue state.
Quite so!I rather think that @coppercapped was suggesting that was Putin's view of events, rather than his own.
That's fine!
There were missed opportunities for sure - the lack of coalescence around the threat of Islamic terror was a lost opportunity (imagine RU and USA agreeing to limited cooperation in breaking up terror cells?). Nonetheless, while the West cannot claim a 100% record in how it has approached Russia since the fall of the USSR, Putin's positions are his own and the degradation of his politics are his mistake, too. It has culminated in a catastrophic escapade for Russia in Ukraine.They're both really good points, and this is why, whilst far from being a Putin apologist or sympathiser, I do question if there was more we could have done to prevent Russia going full "rogue state". I'm not saying it would have been easy by any means, but did the West really try with Putin? I honestly don't know. That said, if the same underlying ideological beliefs were always simmering under the surface, perhaps a situation like the current one was inevitable; again it's difficult say.
It has culminated in a catastrophic escapade for Russia in Ukraine.